While the ordinance is important for anyone who owns or wants to improve real estate in the city, some developers say the updated draft gives them no reason to believe that current or future projects will be slowed.

Demand is high for condos in the Central Business District, Warehouse District, French Quarter and Marigny, where listings have moved off the market quickly. But an analysis of recent sales in those submarkets shows a lack of inventory developers say isn’t likely to change anytime soon.

The Civic, oldest known theater building in New Orleans, has sat hidden and forgotten among a cluster of high-rise towers within the Central Business District for more than 30 years. But developers are hoping that by year’s end, the 106-year-old performance venue can be put back into commerce.

New Orleans-area real estate professionals say consumer habits, lending restrictions and the development financing environment outweigh mortgage rates when it comes to swaying the local housing market. As a result, rentals continue to show strength and a supply-demand imbalance is popping up in the condominium market.

The news pumped life into a project trapped in limbo for years and into the vacant plant that melts into the industrial riverside landscape just beyond to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center downtown. A year later, the iconic smokestacks of the 109-year-old power plant still sit waiting for a plan.

More than 200 rental units will come on line in the CBD and Warehouse District this year after 270 opened last year. Another 550 units are being planned, raising a critical questions: over who will live downtown if young professions choose to move once they start families.

A $2 million construction permit has been filed that could mean the restoration of the old Civic Theater back into a functioning movie venue. Developer Brian Gibbs, who also owns the Civic Lofts apartments on both sides of the theater ...